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31 July 2015 -- Preliminary results from Guinea show that a new vaccine is highly effective against Ebola, and trials of the VSV-EBOV vaccine should continue. "This is an extremely promising development," said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. "The credit goes to the Guinean Government, the people living in the communities and our partners in this project. An effective vaccine will be another very important tool for both current and future Ebola outbreaks."

31 July -- The theme for this year's World Breastfeeding Week is, “Breastfeeding and Work. Let’s make it work!”, to encourage family-friendly policies in the workplace. Breastfeeding is the key to a child’s survival, health, growth and development. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding in the first hour of life and the following 6 months to stimulate brain development, and to prevent childhood obesity and non-communicable diseases later in life.

28 July 2015 -- Hepatitis B and C lead to nearly 1.4 million deaths every year. On World Hepatitis Day, WHO urges countries to do more to prevent new infections and ensure that people who have been infected are diagnosed and offered treatment. It highlights the risks associated with unsafe medical procedures and encourages vaccinating children against hepatitis B.

29 July 2015 -- The West African Ebola outbreak outpaced the ability of any one government or organization to contain and stop it. The international community responded to the appeals for help from the United Nations and other international organizations with a vast array of much-needed support. Such support came in a variety of ways: from sending medical teams and mobile laboratories, to building treatment centres, to donating funds and supplies, to providing training, to deploying specialists in areas such as epidemiology, community engagement and anthropology. Here we look at the different roles partners played.

28 July 2015 -- With Africa at risk of a large meningitis outbreak, an acute shortage of meningitis C-containing vaccine threatens to severely limit the world’s ability to minimize the number of people affected. While substantial progress has been made in recent years, much work needs to be done to protect the African meningitis belt and vaccination remains key to prevent outbreaks.

Policy brief: Transgender people and HIVJuly 2015 -- This WHO technical brief is the first to summarize essential information and existing WHO recommendations for HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care specifically among transgender populations.

The control of neglected zoonotic diseasesJuly 2015 -- A newly published report finds that most neglected zoonotic diseases can be controlled through the use of existing knowledge and tools. WHO estimates that nearly two-thirds of all human pathogens originate from zoonoses.

Liberia update: New information from genetic sequencingJuly 2015 -- On 29 June 2015, a new case of Ebola virus disease was identified in Liberia 50 days after interruption of active transmission was achieved on 9 May. As part of the investigation into the source of this infection, samples from the first case were sent to a lab for genetic sequencing.

Fact sheets

Commentary

We can beat the tobacco epidemicDr Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General, Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, and Dr Tim Evans, Senior Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, The World Bank Group